Toy railway



April 9,1935. G. EINFALT 1,997,512

TOY RAILWAY Filed March 5, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Apr. 9, 1935 V I I UNITED STATES PATENT opt cs v Wm msfimm Applicationllarch3,lm,8erlalNo.mm In Germany February 19, 1032 Claims. (01. res-so) This invention relates to a toy rack railway the elect necessary tor the toy illustrated in inwhich the driving mechanism of the vehicle Fig.8, the railhashinged toitaioldingbracket 33. is released on striking against a rack rail when A vehicle suitable for climbing and ascending ascending an incline and is automatically locked consists oi a framework I with the superstructure 5 againwhenrunningoverthe sameindescend ofacoach. 'I'henmningwheelsifittinginthe 5 ing. Such releasing and locking devices in cotrack channels of the rails are mounted on the operation with corresponding suitable construcaxles I which are mounted in the casing l of tions for the descending and climbing o! the toy the running mechanism. The winding axle 8 carvehicle give a longer running time for the motor. ries in additlonto the motor spring I a toothed The particular advantage oithe construction lies wheel II which engages with the gear ll of 10 in the extremely simple construction of the runan intermediate axle llwhich is mounted in slots ningmechanismandtherackrail. llinthesidesotthecasinglhavingthewind- According to the invention the toy has for the ing axle I as their centre of curvature and the running mechanism a pawl lying within range of intermediate wheel l4 0! which engages in a gear the teeth of the rack rail, which pawl is mounted II which is secured to the actual driving axle I6 15 in a recess of a curved member having a guiding which for driving the vehicle carries within range slot and within this guiding slot the pawl slides of the rack rail 1 a toothed wheel II, the teeth over the driving axle, on which axle is mounted of which coincide with those of the rack rail I.

a special toothed wheel for engaging in the teeth Above the driving axle- It is arranged a memoi the rack rail. In the teeth of this special ber ll forming part of the means for regulating 20 toothed wheel a tongue on the pawl engages so the running down of the motor; On the gear it that when the pawl is lifted by impinging against of the driving axle and in a suitably profiled aperthe teeth of the rack rail the motor can run ture II in the arched surface of said member down and when the pawl is dropped the motor there is alidably mounted a pawl 20 which at the is locked. bottom has a nose-like surface and tat'the top 25 The toy is illustrated in the accompanying has a guiding shank II which is bent approxidrawings, several examples of its use being shown. mately at right angles to the actual locking Fig. 1 shows the rack rail in longitudinal tongue 22. The guiding slot 23 in the surface elevation. of the pawl approximately corresponds in its Fig. 2 shows the same in plan, and breadth to the diameter of the gear l5, and at an.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section. the top forms a rounded and eccentrically placed Fig. 4 shows the vehicle with driving mechaaperture II. nism in longitudinal elevation. In Fig. 8 an example of the use oithe device is Fig. 5 shows the same in plan. shown which showsacollapsible rack railway with Figs. 6 and 'I show the ratchet device in elevaa system 01' rails placed one below the other in 5 tion and in plan. which the vehicle constantly climbs and descends. Figure 8 is a side elevation of the device; This toy is constructed of supporting members Fig. 9 is a side elevation oi a modified to 2i and tilting supports it and 21. On the axle oi? the device; 2| connecting one pair of tilting supports a rack Fig. 10 is a plan of the modification shown in rail I, as described above, is rotatably mounted, 4

8. while on the axle 2! connecting the pair of sup- Figs. 11 and 12 show the spring supports used ports 21 a smooth rail 3. is rotatably mounted but in this modification; and not balanced. Below this rotatable rail there is Figs. 13 and 14 show in end elevation and plan arranged a fixed rail 3| which is inclined in the respectively, a track and a rail section with its opposite direction to the rail 30 and leads to the 45 sleeper; fixed rising rail 32. The winding of the motor 9, Figs. 15 and 16 are respectively an end elevaby turning the winding axle I in the direction tion and a plan view of a rail section with a opposite to that indicated in Fig. 4, results in a sleeper attached. depression of the toothed wheel I and axle i2,

The rack rail I, the ends of which may be mounted in the circumferential slot l3, so that 50 rounded for adapting it to the connecting rails. the driving axle. I, which is acted on by the has over its whole length teeth 3 arranged beblocking pawl 20, is cut oil. from the motor. tween the track channels 2, which teeth are When the vehicle 4 is placed on the rail 30, which formed not on a separate toothed rail but are can swing about the pivots 2! on the support 21,

formed in the rail surface. In order to obtain the vehicle begins to run on account of the in- 55 clination of the rail and its own weight. After reaching the front end of the rail this end is depressed and the vehicle runs on to the rail 3| placed below and sloping in the opposite direction, which is directly connected to a rising rail 32. When it runs over the latter, the previously arranged hinged support 33 is turned by the vehicle in the direction of the arrow and thereby the rack rail l is brought into the position shown in broken lines in Fig. 8 in which it rests on the rising rail 32 by turning round the axle 23 on its supports 26. v

In the meantime the vehicle has 11m back over this rail and impinges on the depressed rack rail I and its teeth 3. The motor I which is under spring tension, is thereby released, the lower slightly rounded edge of the pawl 20 striking against the teeth 3 and releasing the pawl slightly rotating it so that the pawl 23 is radially displaced on the drive l5 from the aperture 24 towards the guiding slot 23 which at the same time results in the movement of the pawl 20, see Fig. 1, caused by the continuous row of teeth 3. The locking tongue 22 is raised on the teeth of the wheel l1 so that the toothed wheel can turn under the influence of the spring tension. The swinging escapement member l8 regulates the uniform running down of the clockwork. In this way the toothed wheel I! comes into engagement with the equally placed teeth 3 and the vehicle climbs in the manner of a rack railway up the inclined rail I.

When the vehicle has reached the-upper half; the rack rail sinks to the support 25- on account of the weight of the vehicle. The support 33 assumes an upright position and supports the rack rail while the vehicle 4 runs on to the rail 33 which has no teeth. As a result, the pawl 23, which has hitherto been raised by the teeth 3;

falls automatically and the rotation of the wheel I! is interrupted on account of the resulting engagement of the tongue 22 in its teeth. The impact of one of the teeth against the tongue also results in a small radial displacement of the pawl which is guided within the esca pement member, which is suflicient to slide the pawl on the drive. I5 from the slot 23 to the aperture 24', and thus ensure its vertical position. The ve-i hicle continues to run under the influence of gravity until it again reaches the depressed toothed rail, after which it continues to ascend again until the motor is run down. I

The body of the figure 8" illustrated in this example consists of a rack rail adapted for overcoming the incline and a series of curved and straight rails and the standards for supporting the rails and the vehicle. After the rack rail 34; which is substantially as described above and runs at a suitable inclination, there follows a curved rail 35 extending from the rail joint I to the joint II over an angle of about 270, which is connected to a curved rail of completely circular? "shape (360) leading to the joint In. The curved until it reaches the rack rail 34 behind the joint VI. Here in the same manner as in the example as illustrated in Fig. 8, the vehicle is unable to overcome the inclination of the rail by the raising of the pawl which releases the motor and by the engagement of the toothed wheel and the toothed rail. The running down and the continued climbing of the vehicle over the rack rail continues until the. running mechanism or the clockwork motor is completely run down.-

The rail strips 4| which in this example are connected by bridge members 40, have oblique walls 42 on each side for better guiding the ve; hicle. The end connection of these rails is effected by means of joint members 43 which have a rounded overlapping 44 with the ends of the strips for being pushed into the rail pieces.

For supporting the rail body, use is made of the resilient stands 45 which are curved over at the bottom to form a foot and which at the top have V-shaped clips 46, the limbs of which fit resiliently into the slots 4;! of the supporting stirrups 48 which are rigidly connected with the rail members.

Of course, instead of the running mechanism described and illustrated, any other driving motor may be employed while retaining the above-described automatic engaging and. disengaging mechanism. Thus, for example, it would also be possible to build into the vehicle an electric motor acting ona driving axle which when fed from the pocket lamp battery or the like would remain in circuit as long as the pawl was sliding over the teeth of a suitably insulated rack rail I or 34.

What I claim is;

1. A toy railway vehicle for use on a track having a toothed rail for at least a part of its length, driving means and automatic locking and releasing means therefor mounted on said vehicle, said means comprising a motor, a pawl adapted to come in contact with the teeth of the rail, a memher having an aperture in which the pawl is mounted, adriving axle, a pinion thereon driven by the motor, the driving axle extending through a slot of the pawl, a toothedwheel keyed to said axle and adapted to engage in the teeth of the rail,-a tongue on the pawl adapted toengage with the teeth of the wheel to lock said wheel when the pawl is in its lower position and to release said wheel when the pawl is lifted by impinging against the teeth of said rail. A toy railway as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the feature that the guiding slot in the pawl has an eccentric part in which the driving axle engages when the pawl is depressed.

3. A toy railway as claimed in claim 1, in which the teeth are pressed out of the rail.

4. A toy railway as claimed in claim 1, and having tilting rails which, together with the toothed rail, are pivotedand a supporting member for the toothed rail which folds at the impact of the vehicle or when the vehicle :runs over the tilting railj 5. A toy railway as claimed in claim 1, having a plurality of straight and curved rail sections arranged to form a suitable figure in which said toothed rail leads to the highest point of the figure, and having from said highest point to the lowest point of the toothed rail a sufficient drop to convey said vehicle over said figure back to the toothed rail.

GEORG EINFALT. 

